Chair construction



Nov. 29, 1960 M, R, HEN 2,962,089

CHAIR CONSTRUCTION Filed March 14, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 @%em a g Nov.29, 1960 M. R. COHEN 0mm CONSTRUCTION Filed March 14, 1957 2Sheets-Sheet 2 fov/ fzi azeza Uniticd States Patent CHAIR CONSTRUCTIONMorton R. Cohen, 5490 S. South Shore Drive, Chicago, Ill.

Filed Mar. 14, 1957, Ser. No. 646,015

1 Claim. (01. 155-194 This invention relates generally to furniture andmore particularly is concerned wtih the construction of a chair of thetype commonly referred to as a bridge or kitchen chair, although the useof the chair of the invention is not intended to be limited by thedesignation thereof.

The primary object of the invention lies in the provision of anextremely simple and durable chair which is possessed of great strengthand stability.

Many other objects flow from the primary object, and these relate -tothe advantages achieved because of the simplicity and strength ofconstruction of the chair.

An important factor in the cost of a given article of furniture to theultimate consumer is the costs of preassembly, shipping and storage, andchairs are no exception. Storage, insurance, and shipping charges onknocked down, that is dis-assembled furniture are all substantially lessthan furniture which has been assembled at the factory and is stored orshipped in that form. In addition to the problems of increased chargesby others, the cost of packing and handling are much greater.

The chair of the invention herein is so constructed that it is extremelysimple to assemble and hence is readily put together by the householderwith only the use of a screwdriver. Because of this even the retailercan sell the chair in knocked down condition, using an assembled samplefor display purposes. The chair is constructed in such a manner that,when assembled, the parts support and brace one another in a novelmanner.

It is, therefore, another object to achieve the advantages set forthabove.

The chair of the invention is formed of an upholstered back and seathaving tubular metal legs and back bracing members, and another objectof the invention is to eliminate from the construction of a tubularmetal chair, the bending forces which usually render such chairs wobblyand unstable and likely to become shaky.

Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in this art as adescription of the preferred embodiment is set forth hereinafter in somedetail. In connection with such description, I have illustrated thepreferred embodiment in accordance with the requirements of the patentstatutes in the drawings appended hereto, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a chair constructed in accordancewith the invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear perspecitve exploded view of the chair illustrating allof the parts thereof.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view of the chair taken generallyalong the line 3-3 of Fig. 4 and in the indicated direction.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of the chair.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the chair taken generally along the line5-5 of Fig. 3 and in the direction indicated to show certainconstructional details.

Generally the chair of the invention is of the type which is used forgeneral utility purposes and thus has a straight back which may beprovided with a back rest padded or upholstered in any conventionalmanner. The

upright support means for the back and the legs of the chair are formedof bent metal tubing of the usual types, such as for example seamed orseamless steel covered with suitable ornamental coatings. The seat is ofconventional construction also.

The invention is characterized, as will more fully be brought outhereinafter, by the provision of unusually long upright support meansfor the backrest, connected by an integral transverse bar, secured tothe rear legs and having a substantial portion thereof parallel with andsecured to said rearlegs to provide the sturdiness and stability abovereferred to. e e 7 Referring now to the drawings, the chair isdesignated generally by the reference character 10, and it willbe seenthat there is provided an upholstered or otherwise padded seat member 12covered with any' suitable flexible material such as thewell-knownplastic sheeting, a padded back rest member 14, asubstantially U-shaped upright back rest support means 16, andsubstantially U-shaped leg members 18 and 20 secured to the seat member12 on the bottom thereof.

The seat member 12 may be of any conventional construction providing abase or support frame member 22 of wood or the like (see Fig. 3) on thebottom thereof to which the fastening means 24 and 26 are adapted to' besecured. The leg members 18 and 20 are identical and hence the samecharacters will be applied to both. They are of inverted U-shapedformation, each having a front leg upright 28 and a rear leg upright 30connected across the upper ends thereof by the transverse horizontalsupport bar 32. The leg members are of metal tubing integrally formedand bent to shape by any of the well known bending techniques. Suitableperforations are provided in the support bars 32, the rear perforations34 (Fig. 2) accommodating the fastening means 24 and the frontperforations 36 accommodating the fastening means 26. Since principalpull-out force is applied at the front of the chair, the front fasteningmeans preferably comprise mach-ine screws passing through the base 22and each engaging a threaded nut 38 suitably secured on the interior ofthe seat to the base member 22. The rear fastening means 24 may besuitable wood screws engaging the base member 22.

The rear leg uprights 30 are canted rearwardly at a greater angle thanthe front leg upright 28 for rear tipping stability of the chair. Theleg uprights may have any suitable friction feet on the bottom endsthereof as shown at 40.

The upright back rest support means 16 is of U-shaped formation,providing a pair of similar side uprights 42' each of which is insertedupwardly into suitable recesses provided in the bottom of the back rest14 and preferably locked in place by means not shown or of pertinence tothe invention. The lower end of the support means comprises a transverseintegral cross bar 44 which is spaced considerably below the level ofthe seat member 12. At approximately the level of the seat member 12,the uprights 42 each have a slight curve or bend 46 so that the portionsof the uprights 42 above the seat member 12 may slant upward andbackward rendering the chair comfortable, While the portions 48 of theuprights 42 below the bends 46 may be slanted downward and backward thebetter to conform to the line of the rear leg uprights 30.

The length of the cross bar 44 is such that the portions 48 engage uponthe inside of the leg uprights 30 along a substantial portion thereof.The engaged parts are firmly secured together by machine screws 50 whichpass through suitable perforations 52 in the portions 48 and engage inthe blind swage'd nuts 54 installed in the leg uprights 30 in alignmenttherewith. Obviously the tubular members are countersunk to render theheads of the screws 50 flush.

The cross bar 44 serves several purposes. In the first place because ofits being Spaced below the level of the seat member 12, it exertsgreater bracing for the moment tending to bend the leg members 18 and 20relative the seat member 12. These moments for each member rotate aboutthe axes defined by the respective support bars 32 and tend to loosenthe fastening means. In the second place, because the bar is spaced solow it provides the edge-to-edge engagement between thepa'rts 48 and therear leg uprights 30 along a substantial length rigiditying andstrengthening the chair. In the third place, it provides considerablymore support for the back rest support means 16 than has been the casewith prior chairs, thereby preventing the constant pressure upon theback to tend to loosen the fastening members or weaken the chair.

From the exploded view of Fig. 2, it will be obvious that the chair canbe disassembled to small parts readily packaged in small cartons. Itwill also be seen that by using a screw driver and inserting only eightscrews the chair is easily put together by one without any but ordinarymechanical aptitude.

It is believed that the advantages will be appreciated and the inventionunderstood without further explanation, and it is desired to point outthat the details of construction, proportion and arrangement of partsare capable of being considerably varied without in any way departingfrom the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appendedclaim.

Iclaim:

In a chair construction having a seat member and a back rest member, apair of inverted U-shaped integral members each having front and rear'leg uprights and a connecting transverse support bar, and a back restsupport member having vertically arranged side uprights and a transversecross-bar integral with and connecting the bottom ends of said sideuprights across the rear of the chair spaced a substantial distancebelow the seat member, the U-shaped leg members being secured to thebottom of the seat member and the back rest support member being securedto the rear leg uprights, said leg uprights being canted Iearwardly, theangle at which the rear leg uprights are canted being greater than thatof the front leg uprights, said side uprights being bent adjacent thehorizontal plane of the seat member to dis pose portions thereof belowsaid plane in substantial alignment with the rear leg uprights, saidtransverse cross-bar being of predetermined length to locate saidportions of the side uprights each in abutting engagement with a rearleg upright and between and secured to said rear leg uprights.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,073,693 Hanauer Mar. 16, 1937 2,578,397 Brown Dec. 11, 1951 2,656,881Hamilton Oct. 27, 1953 2,706,518 Fleischer Apr. 19, 1955 2,710,053Hamilton June 7, 1955 2,711,787 Hallowell, et a1 June 28, 1955 FOREIGNPATENTS 376,251 Great Britain July 5, 1932 437,230 Italy June 26, 1948850,060 Germany Sept. 22, 1952 1,019,155 France Oct. 22, 1952 1,098,109France Mar. 2, 1955 1,114,165 France Dec. 12, 1955

